Spacing-clip



W. E. WHITE.

SPACING CLIP. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 3. 191 9.

1 8 52, 642 Patented Seyt. 14,1920.

Wl/ZZZYME 11%;

pairs!) STATES WILLIAM E. WHITE, or MINNEAPOLIS, a'irnnnsorn.

' SPACING-CLIP.

Specifieati on of Iletters Patent.

Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

Application filed December 3, 1919. Serial No. 342,088.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, W ILLIAM E. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of lilinneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spacing-Ulips, of which the following is a speciiication. p

In the art of concrete reinforcement it is frequently required that steel barsbe arranged and maintained in parallel spaced apart relation for the horizontal or longitudinal reinforcement of walls, floors, or other st *tural members of the slab type.

It is often imperative that such arrangement and maintenance be performed with precision; that bars be accurately located in desi ned relation one to another and to the struvture as a. whole, and firmly held in place prior to and during the concreting operation.

Any considerable displacement of bars may result in serious loss of strength at vital poin in the completed structure, not only through failure to carry out the designers intention but by preventing uniformity in p concrete distribution.

These considerations apply with marked significance in the construction of concrete vessels in the design of which it is necessary to provide an abnormal amount of reinforcement disposed in as small a body of concrete as will reasonably contain it.

li/Xisting means for assembling and holdeinforcing steel are inadequate under conditions for the following reasons: ll hen, as in common practice, horizontally disposed bars are positioned and held by means of twisted wire ties applied at intersections of the bars with a secondary system of bars lying in a parallel plane, in immediate contact with the main b, and preferably disposed in a direction normal. to them, great difficulty arises from the structural insulliciency of this type of tie. This insufficiency lies in the required use of wire strands of light gage to permit manipulation; in the fact that the holding power of the tie is wholly dependent on induced friction between the bars confined, this friction being indeterminate in that it functions on the tight or loose fit of the wire, the direct or indirect application of the twisting force, and the uncertainty as to whether or not the tie Wire has been strained beyond its ield point in twisting. In the hands of long experienced workmen this of fit. and intensity of spring tension developed. These functions are restricted by limits of strength and skill on the part of the worlnnens lingers, and are not often developed to the point demanded of them for full performance of their work.

In the device of my invention I provide a spacing and holding clip each element of which consists of'a length ofsti ii wire, the ends of cooperating clips being formed to engage with a reinforcing member and with each other. 7

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a view showing a plurality of reinforcingjbars insection and my novel spacing clips in elevation; r Fig. 2 a detached perspective view of two of the clips ininterlocked relation;

Fig. 3 is an end view of one of the clips; and, i i

Fig. 4: is an edge view thereof.

In the drawings one wall 10 of a form is indicated, the reinforcing bars 11 being suitably spaced away from the form by means of saddles or chairs 12, preferably composed of previously molded concrete blocks having wire ties 12 embedded. t-l'lQI'Qlll.

The spacing clip which I prefer to employ consists of a length of relatively stiff wire and for lightness combined with strength I prefer to employ spring wire, the gage of which will be regulated by the size of the work in which the clips are employed. In view of the fact that the parts are held in position because of interlocking engagement there is not the requirement for such stillness as in a case where the holding strength depends wholly upon resistance to bending. Consequently wire having suitable tensile strength may be employed without regard to its resistance to bending. Therefore it will be seen that much lighter gage wire may be employed than in constructions heretofore proposed. The clip consists of a shank 13, a large lateral hook 14, of a size substantially equal to that of the reinforcing bar to be accommodated therein, the end of the wire which forms the hook being rebent to form a small hook 15, disposed at a 90 angle to the hook 14. At the opposite end of the shank I provide another hook 16, which is likewise disposed in a different plane from either of the hooks 14, 15. In practice the clips are inter-engaged as shown in the drawing, the hook 16 engaging a cooperating clip at the junction of the shank 13 with the hook 14:, while the hook 15 engages the shank 18 at a point intermediate its ends, the reinforcing bar 11, lying within the space defined by the hook 14c and the shank 18. Thus it will be seen that the bar is securely held in place and the holding capacity of the clips is not dependent upon the resistance to bending of any of its parts; that is, I do not consider the small hoops 15, 16, in making this statement as the radius of bend of these hooks is so small that their strength is relatively great and, by employing stiff wire, is for all practical purposes substantially equal to the tensile strength of the wire.

Vhen employed in connection with a spacing chair such as shown at 12, the wire fasteners 12 will be bent to engage either the bar or the spacing clips as shown. This serves to hold the bars in proper position.

I claim:

1. A spacing clip, comprising a shank having at one end an offset portion forming a recess adapted to receive a reinforcing bar and a hook at its opposite end adapted to engage an adjacent duplicate clip at the junction of its shank and bar-receiving recess, and means at the extremity of the portion constituting the bar-receiving recess for engaging the shank of an adjacent clip, substantially as described.

2. A spacing clip for reinforcing bars comprising a shank having a large hook at one end adapted to receive a reinforcing bar, the metal at the extremity of the large hook being laterally bent to provide a small hook adapted to engage the shank of a cooperating clip, the shank having a small hook at the end opposite the large hook, said small hook being adapted to engage a cooperating clip at the junction of the shank thereof with its large hook, whereby the open side of the large hook is closed by the shank of a cooperating clip, substantially as described.

3. Spacing means for reinforcing bars,

comprising interlocking clips, each clip hav-so ing at one end an offset portion forming a bar-receiving recess, said portion terminating in a hook, the shank of said clip terminating in a hook adapted to engage with a cooperating clip at the junction oi its oil'- set portion with its shank, the shank of the clip engaging the hook formed at the recess end whereby a closed space for a bar is provided without interlocking of the clips with the bar, substantially as described.

at. Spacing means for horizontal reinforcing bars in a vertical wall, comprising clips having at one end a bar-receiving recess, a shank, and a hook at the end of the shank opposite to the recess, the hook of an adj acent clip engaging the material at the junction of the shank and the material constituting the recess, interlocking engagement of the clips serving to close the bar-receiving recesses, the weight of the bars being supported without interlocking engagement of the clips with the bars, substantially as described.

Signed at St. Paul, Minn, this 26th day of November, 1919.

WVILLIAM E. WHITE. Witness:

H. L. Dow. 

